Nancy White has an excellent blog on “Challenging the myths of distributed collaboration”. She points to a critical issue — that these efforts need to be based on a cooperative value set. There is the key challenge. Can collaboration be cooperative without that common value set? Or what value set do individuals have with any work that they collaborate on? There seems to be small groups that propose the end result of their code, and hence product, is for the greater good but we are seeing large dollar transactions occur when their idea (product) has a high commercial value and it is subsequently sold. The excitement of something unique and workable will always create the “buzz” necessary for it to become popular. Popularity tends to have a material side to it though. Aren’t users part of the collaborative spirit? Maybe that is what they mean by free enterprise!
Tinfoiling 
Gene, you surface another part of the puzzle. The values of the tool builders are carried in their tools. But are they reciprocated in the users?
I just came across a great gardening website called AtlGardening.com*. Not only does it feature articles for the gardening enthusiast, but has become a great gardening problem
resource for me in my landscaping effort. The webmaster of this site has recently added a book section that seemed to expand everytime I go there.
What I like about it is that I get instant access to the book and don’t have to wait for the book(s) to arrive which of course saves me money…..no shipping charges…. in some cases. Great idea. I love it. You must check it out today. Let me know what you think.
**HYDROPONICS**